CODARTfocus Dresden

On Sunday 13 and Monday 14 November 2016 CODART and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden organized a CODARTfocus meeting on the occasion of the exhibition Paradise on Earth. Flemish Landscape Painting from Bruegel to Rubens. On Monday morning the exhibition opened exclusively to our group. A second part of our Dresden visit were in-depth study visits to the Kupferstich-Kabinett, the conservation studio, the Residenzschloss, and of course the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister.

Program

On Sunday afternoon 13 November we will begin at the Albertinum for registration, a word of welcome and a lecture by Uta Neidhardt, Senior Curator of Dutch and Flemish Paintings and curator of the exhibition. The Albertinum holds the collections roughly from Romanticism until the present day. The Galerie Neue Meister and the Skulpturensammlung share the museum space which is open that Sunday from 10 to 6 pm. If you like you can visit the collections at your own leisure before we begin our program in the Glöckner-Raum at the Albertinum.

After Uta Neidhardt’s lecture we will walk together to the Residenzschloss for a visit to the Kupferstich-Kabinett with Director Stephanie Buck. In the study room we will take a close look at masterpieces by for instance Rembrandt and Dürer from the Dresden collection and discuss these with each other.

On Monday 14 November the Head of Research and Scientific Cooperation, Gilbert Lupfer, and the Head of the Paintings Conservation department, Marlies Giebe, will welcome us in the foyer of the Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau. After this we will be able to visit the exhibition Paradise on Earth. Flemish Landscape Painting from Bruegel to Rubens exclusively with the responsible curators. We close the morning with a lecture by Christoph Schölzel, conservator at the Gemäldegalerie. He will speak about the restoration of Gillis van Coninxloo’s Judgment of Midas.

After our lunch together we will go to the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister for an exclusive visit to the permanent collections. The curators of the museum will prepare a study visit during which we will see and discuss various highlights of the collection and also a few ‘problematic’ pieces. Please understand that not all paintings will be on view because of the temporary renovations of the galleries. Please find more information about the Interim Exhibition here: link

Finally we will visit the Residenzschloss with Claudia Brink, Curator at the Grünes Gewölbe. She will guide us through the permanent exhibitions of the historical and the modern spaces of the Green Vault as well as the Armoury with the Türckische Cammer.

We will end the CODARTfocus festively with a reception offered by the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in the Zwinger building.

Lecture by Dr. Christoph Schölzel

The conservation of Gillis van Coninxloo’s comparatively large-sized landscape painting in preparation for the Dresden exhibition on Flemish landscape painting resembled a rediscovery of the painting: The removal of the the old varnish layers has brought back to light the painting’s subtle colorfulness. Thanks to the discovery of a small signature the co-authorship of universal artist Karel van Mander (for the part of the colorful group of figures in the foreground) has been confirmed. Besides these “discoveries” the lecture’s focus will be on conservation treatments like the re-glueing of the panel and the integration of a larger damaged spot for example.